Identify the Following as an Experiment or an Observational Study

question 136

Essay

Identify the following as an experiment or an observational study.
-A high school student wonders if there is a correlation between the average life span of an animal and the
number of letters in its name. She gathers the following data:

She obtains a high correlation coefficient of 0.98 and concludes that using a linear model, the number of letters in an
animal's name can be used to predict its average life span.

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Definitions:

Negative Reinforcement

A process in behavior modification where the removal of an unfavorable outcome or stimulus strengthens a behavior, encouraging its repetition.

Instinctive Drift

The phenomenon where an animal's learned behavior reverts to its innate behaviors, overriding conditioned responses.

Behavior Modification

A psychological treatment method that alters undesirable behaviors through rewards, punishments, or other strategies.

Tokens

Symbolic, often physical, items used in a token economy system to reward desirable behavior and which can be exchanged for other rewards.